Tener Fe
by Mai Lynn Bennet
Summary: Set just before Quos'nos. Up always had to say something - and what better time is there then just before going into war?


**A/N: Heres another Tup! This one is set just before Quos'nos, like literally. They're on the ship and – I'm not going to spoil any more of it. Also – like I said on the last fic, feel free to message me your ideas, with these details:**

**Characters (preferably Tup or Spayonder - but doesn't have to be, I'm just good at those.)**

**Time – like pre/post Bugworld, Quos'nos, how many years after or before. Something like that**

**Setting**

**Plot summary-idea-thing**

**And any other important details. Most of my fanfic ideas come from quotes or phrases I hear around places – like my first Tup was just 'Grateful for Nightmares' (hence the title)**

**So yea! Would be great to hear from you guys! Thank you!**

**-linebreak-**

The silence in the drop-pod was deafening.

Around 20 or more soldiers were crowded into the small space, clutching their weapons to their chest. The ships mood was that of a funeral. They all knew what was coming.

Taz was leaning against the far wall of the pod, sharpening her knife on a stone. She knew it would do nothing against the robots – but she didn't feel right without it.

She glanced up and met Up's gaze. His eyes flicked to the raised platform in front of the hatch door, then back to hers, silently asking the question he had dreaded. She nodded, and Up stood, sighing.

It was time.

The inhabitants of the drop-pods attention was instantly distracted from their impending doom, to the solemn commander mounting the steps. Up took a breath and sighed again. Then he spoke,

"Alright soldiers. You know how important this mission is. If it's a success – it could mean giving us the advantage to win this war."

Up raised a hand to the back of his neck, and he locked eyes with Taz at the back of the room, before looking up and facing his men once more,

"Now I've got two things to say to you. Firstly – fight hard. Take down as many toasters as you can. Fight 'til you can't fight no more. When that happens I want you to get out of there. Find a safe place to hide until the fighting is over, and then get back to the drop-pod." Up's raised his chin in a form of defiance, which not one of the crew understood.

"Second – never stop believing that you'll make it out of there. Because when you stop believing you lose all faith in your survival, and in your team. And the whole fight becomes hopeless."

Up took a deep breath then moulded his face back into its usual stern, grim look.

"Now get out there and win us this dead goddamn war!" He roared at the soldiers who, in turn, saluted and positioned their weapons so they were pointed at the door.

The drop-pod landed with a thud which jolted the people inside. Up stepped down from the entrance and made his way through the soldiers towards Taz.

As he did, the hatch door opened and the landing platform lowered itself onto the barren wasteland below. With set faces, the soldiers gripped their weapons and marched down into what would end up being the last day of their lives.

Up, however, had grabbed Taz by the hand and dragged her into a storage room. Taz looked up at her commanding officer in confusion,

"Up – de fight isn't in de storage room!" She exclaimed, "What are we doing in -" but her words were cut off when Up's lips crashed down onto hers.

The kiss wasn't soft and sweet, but nor was it passionate and lustful. It was full of six years' worth of pent up emotion – emotion Up realized had been there ever since he had seen her tied up like a piñata at her _quinceañera _in that ridiculous pink dress.

Taz wound her hands around his neck, kissing him back ferociously. She held him close to her – forgetting, just for a moment, about the war raging outside their pod.

All too soon Up pulled away,

"I had to do that. Because if we're gonna die out there, I just want you to know -"

Taz cut him off,

"Up – we're not going to die! Jou said it jourself – we just have to believe. Hope. Have faith. _Tener fe_."

Up opened his mouth to reply when they heard the sounds of zappers coming from outside. They exchanged glances before Taz said,

"Come on - _vamos_!" She hoisted her zapper off her shoulder before saying, an evil glint in her eye, "Let's go kick some _robota _ass."

She opened the storage room door and together the pair charged down the hatch ramp and into the fray.

But just because the battle was raging around them, it didn't mean that Up didn't hear the small whisper coming from the tiny Mexican.

"_Te amo_"

It was a big thing for Taz to admit how much she cared. Because for her, feelings made you weak. Soft. Vulnerable. And feelings meant that you would let something, or someone, get in the way of getting the job done. But instead of doing what heart wanted to do, which was to turn and press his lips to hers once more, he listened to his brain and continued killing every robot in sight.

But this time, he wasn't killing because he hated the robots, or because it was pay back for what they did to his family. This time, he was killing for her. Every robot he took down gave Taz a better chance of survival.

Little did he know, it would be the last thing he would hear her say to him.


End file.
